Whether it’s with the haunting call of “Downeaster Alexa” or the playful bops of “Uptown Girl”, Billy Joel calls everyone to remember a different time, a different place. One song, in particular, tugs at those strings of memory -- “Keeping the Faith.”
Joel recalls his youth and the way the young men he grew up with learned to live through the actions of their fathers, their peers, and the trappings of that lifestyle. One thing that has always caught my attention —and indeed, it was the song — that drew me to them. Sen-Sen.
Gone but certainly not forgotten, Sen Sen Confections are a beloved discontinued candy.
Sen-Sen -- oh, I loved them!
It was a licorice breath freshener. It was smooth and cool, with a hint of sumptuousness that teenage me absolutely adored, making me feel older and more sophisticated than I really was.
They were hard to find, and I’m fairly certain I was the only person buying them from the little used bookstore by my house. But I always made sure to grab a pack whenever I saw them. Which was few and far between, and then non-existent after I moved to Pennsylvania.
But I’ll always remember them fondly as a little slice of adolescence. Something I share with previous generations, it seems.
The little black confections were sold for over a hundred years and manufactured on the same equipment the entire time by, of all places, a perfume manufacturer called the T.B. Dunn Company.
Slowly, the popularity began to wane as newer, more popular flavors flooded the market, made with loads of sugars and sweeteners, and it was just nostalgia and tradition that kept Sen-Sen alive.
In 2013, it was decided that the mint had finally simply fallen to the wayside to the likes of Breathsavers and TicTacs and the company ended production.
Now, mind, Breathsavers and TicTacs are in no way inferior. There is a reason they won out in the end. But, for those people who remember Sen-Sen so fondly, they just don’t hit that spot of nostalgia.
There are plenty of candies to freshen your breath with nowadays, I for one am partial to Wintergreen Lozenges. But for those still looking for that memory, C.Howard’s Scented Gum will give you a similar experience to popping a Sen-Sen.
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